Copyright, watermarks and ownership
A number of false claims have been made in recent months by one or two parties that some of the material displayed here is theirs, or more perversely we are displaying copies of images which they lifted from the web many years ago and now claim as their own. Either way the claims are untrue.
I have challenged these people and asked them identify which pieces they are referring to, they have refused to provide any details, which leaves me in great doubt as to the validity of their so-called claims. Plus I know that the images of all records, bar one or two which are annotated as coming from the web, are from specific collections of fans and are creditied as such.
It is a matter of record that if we use a image we always ask permission for its use, you just have to check our Facebook pages to see that fact is true. Where feasible we always seek that permission in written electronic form via either our FB pages, or through direct contact with the owner. If it is refused, as was the rare case with some early Martin Barre shots when he was in the Penny Peeps we honour the decsion of the legitimate owner. This is unlike the actions of one of the claimants who seems to be happy to lift stuff from other peoples sites and post it to his own website.
We have also had public issue with one person claiming that we have used images of their tickets without permission. Again this is another untrue claim made by an individual with a grudge against this and our sister site. We have publicly responded and published hes agreements to the use of the tickets. All tickets and other items displayed are either ours or we have written consent to their addition on this site. We always credit the owner or the source.
And, we also always retain the documentary evidence as to permissions given.
One of the complainants also went as far to try and tell me how to run this site suggesting that we should not watermark images as fans don't like it. I suspect they would be the fans like him who seem happy to lift other people work and claim it as their own. I am willing to challenge any claim made by these individuals, who act like liars and trolls.
In watermarking images we are not claiming them as our own, we merely seek to ensure that any images kindly supplied to us for use here on The Boy Scout Manual or The Jethro Tull Board remain safe and are not lifted by others to be made into fridge magnets for sale, get attached to videos which are then sold to fans or even appear on other websites. The use of watermarks is for protection against the more unscrupulous so called fans out there trying to make a quick and unhonest buck out of the sort of fans I set this site up to provide support and information to.
Let me stress, we make no money from this site. In fact, it is a privately run and operated site, it is not hosted freely like some forums, and it is not an off-the-shelf website, it was built as a bespoke site for the enjoyment of fans, I pay for its continuing development, hosting and upkeeep, so excuse me if I sound pissed off at a few spoilers and condescending arseholes who think they are more jumped up then they actually really are, and who think I actually give a fuck about their petty whinges. These people want to destroy anything they don't own or control. Sad bastards really.
This ripping off of work by people associated with another forum is one reason why at this stage I will not make the TOTRNR video available. There are at least two people out there who seem at ease to lift video work done by others and take the credit for it. I won't do that or allow it to happen with material that I have and would be willing to share freely, when I have the ability to make my video and other stuff available and can be certain that the work is not lifted by the likes of these leeches who rip fans off or undermine legitimate releases, I will do it for free.
I hope the fans who visit the site understand my posiiton and continue to enjoy what we are trying to do here.
Pat K